Puppy rescued from drain in north St. Louis

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

(KTVI) - St. Louis firefighters have rescued a puppy that's trapped in a storm drain.

When the call came in at 10:30 Tuesday morning, little did firefighter Adam Solomon know that he'd spend the next three hours trying to save a dog that had fallen down the drain.

"It's not something we deal with normally," says St. Louis Firefighter Adam Solomon. "You don't train every day for a puppy in a well. It's more house fires and medical for humans."

But the two month old teacup Chihuahua named Storm was stuck.

"His name definitely fits him because he created all of this," says dog owner Cocoa Young.

Cocoa Young was visiting her brother in the 4900 block of Theodore in north St. Louis when the dog tried to jump over the open drain.

"We tried to bait him toward the hole so we could at least see him, with some bacon and dog food," says Solomon. "But he was pretty obstinate."

So the STLFD called MSD and the humane society for help and crews began pumping water to get the pup out.

"It's a very narrow space," says MSD spokesperson Lance LeComb. "It's the lateral line which connects the home's plumbing to the public sewer system. So it's a smaller pipe maybe four to six inches large."

"When the net didn't work we used a cinch," says Solomon. "I was afraid he'd float past us and into the actual sewer system and be gone."

But the diminutive dog tale had a happy ending thanks to the skillful hands of a bunch of heroes and a whole lot of patience with the puppy.

"I usually walk him in the doggy park but it was nice out, the sun came out and I just walked him and he tried to jump over the hole and he didn't make it," says Young.

After the ordeal, MSD put a cap on the cleanout pipe that leads to the lateral line and storm was off to the vet to be checked out.

"Thank you like, ten times thank you," says Young. "Thank you so much."